23 July 2013

Where is the angry young man?

He was aggressive, macho, muscle-flexing and a goon-bashing
man. He had the tough guy stereotype alpha male
(hyper masculine) socially and physically dominating and imposing his will upon
on all.

Today, the angry young man is under the lens in the
light of ‘Naari Shakti’, ‘Metrosexual Man’ and ‘Unisex Youth’.

Naari
Shakti - Women today are emerging as the new powerhouses on the block.
Countless cases in point, slew of articles and the changing face of Indian
cinema & TV are all evidences that women are taking
over men big time and throwing them hapless.

In the past few years, there has been a
constant rise in the women power. The woman is no more a prop but is the centre
of the universe for everything. The portrayal of women in cinema, TV serials
and advertising has evolved over time.

TV serials have women who are empowered and
are role models like in ‘Mann Ki Awaaz
Pratigya’, Pratigya always stands up against a wrong even when her family
stands on the other side, ‘Ye Rishta Kya
Kehlata Hai’, Akshara embraces tradition and strives to carry her family
with her when she ventures to new thoughts or ideas. The diversity in the women
characters on TV today is encouraging. In the early decades, the
heroine in Indian cinema had only one objective in life, that of being a
sati-savitri, who never looked beyond her family and husband. The kitchen was
her cocoon, and she epitomised all things good. 2

The biggest change being that in the matrimony columns of the
newspaper they no longer want a homely girl but a working woman.

If you’re not yet convinced, perhaps the
real proof is in looking at the other side. Rather like actresses in the
Bollywood films of the ‘80’s, the male actors in TV serials today serve mainly
as eye candy.

And, Rama Bijapurkar has noted the subtle
emasculation in her ‘We Are Like That Only’ column, “…the men in these serials
are often reduced to convenient props, or powerless protesters or tyrants, who
don’t realize that the rug is being pulled ever so gently from under their
feet.” 3

Now, you have strong characters as Vidya
Bagchi in Kahaani to a Meera from No one killed Jessica to a Shashi in English
Vinglish.

In advertising, the change looks all the
more heartening. The readiness of the man to take up his wife’s name after
marriage in Havell’s Fans ad or the girl asking the boy to elope with her on
bike in Ponds Dreamflower ad just indicate the role reversal that is
transpiring in our society.

Even the one thing which was sacred
to men “Cricket” now has women involved in it too. Mandira Bedi started it in
the cricket world cup of 2003 and now every cricket match in India has women
commentators

Women are no longer challenging male
dominated domains… they are taking over!

The
era of the Metrosexual man - As defined byMark Simpsonwho coined the term in his article published inThe Independent way back in 1994
– A metrosexual is ayoung man with money to spend, living in or within easy reach
of a metropolis — because that’s where all the best shops, clubs, gyms and
hairdressers are.A man, who got pedicures and facials, practiced aromatherapy
and spent freely on clothes.

The
metrosexual male became more conscious about how they look, gave more time to
their grooming and experimented with their looks not
just in the business world but also in society. A lot depended on how he
presented himself. Men didn't want to run the risk of being seen as
irresponsible and negligent due to their looks. Celebrities, too, became more
vocal about their grooming habits, sharing self-grooming details in TV and
print interviews.

In the past few years, the men's grooming market has grown exponentially
with brands launching not just therun-of-the-mill shaving gels and foams, but fairness creams,
moisturisers, talc, face washes and other grooming products targeted
specifically at men, with fairness creams leading the pack.4

The grooming fad was not limited to men from the corporate field - it
spread rapidly to college goers and even the younger lot too, making it a whopping
100 crore market in 2009 growing at 25%.

Moreover,
the world of clothes and style has extended for men from trousers and jeans to
cargos and jeggings. There is no shortage of brands offering pastel coloured
pants for men.

Women of the
present day are seeking certain attributes in their men; they want to be with
guys who are confident, smart, funny, sensitive, stable and mature.

Youth icons
like Ranbir Kapoor, Imran Khan, Shahid Kapoor, Ayushman Khurana, Virat Kohli,
Unmukt Chand, John Abraham, Hrithik Roshan etc are the metrosexual men of today
who have over shadowed the macho man.

Youth
is unisex – With more than 75% of our population
being under 30, the gender lines are blurring.

Taking a page out of the book, most brands
like Vodafone, Airtel, Pepsi, Fastrack etc are also talking in their language,
whether it’s Fastrack asking you to move on… or Pepsi aligning to the
impulsiveness with Oh Yes Abhi! Or even
Blackberry which was a man’s brand but has now found resonance with the youth.

The current lot are a product of the
co-education system which has led to equal roles for both men and women.

As there is no more differentiation the
macho men are struggling to survive.

In a
bid to find its voice the angry young man is trying to make a comeback

Suddenly there is a crop of action movies like Ghajini, Agneepath, Wanted, Veer, Dabbang, Bodyguard, Ek
tha Tiger, Singham, Himmatwala, Commando etc where you can see the shades of
machismo coming out..

Even the current chocolate boys like Ranbir
Kapoor, Imran Khan, Arjun Kapoor are playing the role of theangry young man in
their upcoming films, it comes as no surprise that TV shows male protagonists
are following the suit.

Some of the television stars like Gurmeet Chaudhary (Punar
Vivah), Barun Sobti (Iss pyaar ko kya naam doon), Vivian Dsena (Madhubala),are
playing the angry young man but are a putty in the hands of their ladylove
which the masses have loved.

However, there is no angry young man emerging in our ads.

How
are brands helping men express their masculinity?

Pulling off stunts – Can
masculinity be only expressed when men are jumping from buildings (Thumbs up), driving
cars on a rough terrain (Mahindra) or doing wheelies on their bikes (Bajaj
Pulsar).

Fighting with
other men – One guy bashing up ten in a Dixcy Scott men’s underwear ad.

Play with boy toys – Racing
around with their cars (SX4).

Relation
to women – the interaction with women, whether it’s
understanding them (Idea) or the ironies of being around them (imperial blue) or
saying even though we are forgetful but Bande acche hai (ICICI Prudential) or are
men looking to be saviours of women, by being soldiers for them (Gillette) or
even becoming an ideal ‘man’ or ‘mard’ through Farhan
Akhtar’s Mard initiative.

All are pegging
towards the man’s innate need to express masculinity in one way or the other.

Today, gender
conventions are blurring and men are formulating a more nuanced idea of what it
means to be a man.

Nonita Kalra asserts in her column “The
Indian man is frustrated because he is irrelevant. As the woman has evolved,
she has been able to straddle her traditional and contemporary roles. But the
man, fooled by his supremacy, forgot to update himself.”5

Does Indian advertising have a
definitive view of where the Indian man is headed?

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